Pinterest is opening up its site to retailers for the first time, as the popular online scrapbook begins letting brands capitalise on its user data for the first time. The move sees Pinterest open up its API (the code for app creation) letting developers embed pins directly on their websites. Pinterest has launched the service […]
Pinterest is opening up its site to retailers for the first time, as the popular online scrapbook begins letting brands capitalise on its user data for the first time.
The move sees Pinterest open up its API (the code for app creation) letting developers embed pins directly on their websites.
Pinterest has launched the service with 20 partners, including Zappos and Walmart.
These firms will use real-time Pinterest data to generate lists of the most-pinned items in their online stores.
The new tool will show developers how to integrate four types of analytics into their apps and sites:
• Top Pins API. A method to showcase the most clicked pins and top repins. This is what Pinterest partners will be able to use beginning Thursday.
• Domain search. Developers will be able to surface trending results for keywords such as “Men’s Boots,” “Thanksgiving recipes” or “Fashion Week.”
• Most Recent. A widget to bring a stream of your latest pins to your site, so that visitors can view what you’ve been pinning lately.
• Related Pins. A widget that will suggest other pins people may like based on the item or content they’re viewing.
Companies using the APO include AllRecipes, Better Homes and Garden, BuzzFeed, Disney sites Babble and BabyZone, Elle Magazine, Mashable, ModCloth, NBC News Digital’s iVillage, Nestlé, Random House, Snapguide, Target, Walmart, Wayfair, Whole Foods,Zappos and Zulily.
The move marks a new step in Pinterest’s strategy to become a discovery tool for all manner of content across the Web.
The site’s tens of billions of “pins” — images of outfits, recipes, vacation rentals and other desired products — provide insight about consumer demand that could in turn help retailers promote their hottest goods.
Publishers can use the same data to pinpoint popular articles and other pieces of content. For example, Hearst’s Elle Magazine plans to launch “Pinterest Obsessions,” a collection of most-pinned fashion articles, on its website.
Pinterest is giving its partners the new tools for free, and will continue to help online shops generate sales without taking a cut.
In return, as more sites add Pinterest’s logo and software, the service will have an opportunity to reach new users.
Jason Costa, Pinterest’s head of developer relations, announced on the Pinterest blog that the API will be first released to 20 partners including AllRecipes, Buzzfeed, Hearst, and NBC, before the documentation is released to all interested Pinterest developers.
While some pioneer companies have until now managed to work around the lack of an API via data scraping, they’ll most likely soon replace more difficult methods with the API when it’s ready.
Pinterest, with more than 53 million monthly users around the world according to comScore, is also expanding abroad. This week, it launched local-language versions of its site in Japan, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. It’s now available in 12 languages; Silbermann has set a goal of reaching 26 by the end of 2014.
Read the official Pinterest blog here
